US: Vacation rental property management company Casago has revealed that it has more than doubled its territories across the United States and Mexico in the last two years.
Casago has vacation rental property management partner operations in 51 destinations, up from 19 in 2021 — a 168 per cent increase.
Local destinations now offered under the Casago franchise brand include: Florida; California; South Carolina; Texas; Colorado; Delaware; Nevada; Utah; Hawaii; Missouri; Idaho; Arizona; Alabama; Oregon; Montana; the Virgin Islands; and Mexico. More than 7,000 privately owned homes and units are managed.
The business is unusual in that it is one of the few property management companies to operate a successful franchise model in the short-term rental sector. And, unlike most traditional franchise operations, the company has attracted existing vacation rental businesses, which make up half of its pipeline of new destinations.
Casago began life in 2001 as a traditional property management company but adopted the franchise model in 2019 when founder Steve Schwab realised the business could support more growth, by working with local operators, without sacrificing service levels for owners and guests whilst continuing to maintain excellent hospitality.
The majority of the company’s locations are in the United States. Its founding market was Rocky Point, Mexico, which is also home to Casago University, where all partners and staff members in the business benefit from two weeks of intensive training.
Rocky Point is one of seven corporate owned destinations. Among the remaining 44 locations, 18 are home to pre-existing property management companies that chose to join forces with Casago to benefit from the resources, support and buying power of a national PMC.
The other 26 destinations feature entrepreneurs who have set up property management operations for the first time, although most have relevant real estate and hospitality experience.
Steve Schwab, founder and CEO of Casago, said: “What we’ve managed to achieve demonstrates how the franchise model, which has proved so successful in the hotel industry, is perfectly suited to the vacation rental sector too.
“Casago is built with a vision that is effectively bottom up rather than top down. This means that our partners on the ground in each of our destinations are supported to run their own local business, benefiting their local owners. We firmly believe that the vacation rental industry is about localised hospitality and boots on the ground managers and operators are best placed to provide this.
“If you can demonstrate professionalism and value, in an owner-centric way, there are hundreds of thousands of vacation rental owners out there who want help from people who understand their local market and how to protect and promote their most valuable asset. Our mission at Casago is to provide exceptional property stewardship alongside remarkable guest experiences and we are doing that successfully through the franchise model,” he added.
Casago CMO Alex Husner will join a STRz brand on ‘Building a short-term rental brand or empire’ on Tuesday 21 November – register for free at this link.
